Every 3 years I get to perform at the musical olympics: our New Year’s Concert in the amazing Golden Hall of the Musikverein. I personally always really appreciate the stunning floristic decoration. What you never see on TV is that as soon as the concert is over, audience members start pulling it apart and take it home. Actually quite a nice keepsake of this special event.

I guess most of you know the gilded statue of Johann Strauß II in Vienna’s Stadtpark. Well, the foyer of Harmony Hall in Fukui (a splendid hall, by the way)  boasts a statue that is even more impressive, at least to flutists – an amazing, life-sized, flute-playing lady! And while I’ve never taken a picture of myself in front of Johann Strauß so far, I most certainly couldn’t resist this opportunity. And all kidding aside, I’m touched by the thought that the very essence of “harmony” is embodied by a flutist…

Hiroshima, Tajimi, Okayama…the first 3 concerts on our Wiener Virtuosen tour are done! Great  ensemble, colourful program, amazing concert halls, lovely audiences, and so motivated school orchestras when we have some coaching sessions with them. The “Carmen Fantasy” is running very well and I’m having fun. But it’s not easy to calm down to a “normal” speed level, when you travel with Shinkansen train every day…!

Sometimes my best concerts happen when I don’t expect it at all. Yesterday night at Minoo, Maple-Hall, outside of Osaka, almost in the countryside, fresh air, green mountains and a very nice concert hall…
Together with brilliant pianist Ryoko SAWAKI we were able to create a breathtaking atmosphere from Schubert “Arpeggione”, via Enescu and Taffanel to Franck “Sonata”. And the great supportive audience accompanied us on our exciting journey through this romantic music, in the best sense of the word.

A marvellous concert evening took place not in Carnegie, or Suntory, or Musikverein-Hall: it happened in the countryside outside Osaka, and we LOVED it!

Recital, Auer-Sawaki, Minoo Maple-Hall, October 30, 2014

Sometimes it’s weird when and where I write my posts. After a packed week – touring with wonderful guitar player Janez Gregoric in Austria, an Auers’ Flutery lecture concert in Vienna and a Wiener Virtuosen concert at Musikverein  (yes, an event every night) – I’m now at Helsinki airport, waiting for my connecting flight to Osaka. The next days are full and packed  – but only with beautiful music: our Mozart d-major concerto the day after tomorrow with Kyoto Symphony Orchestra  (great conductor Naoto OTOMO) in Kyoto, the recital in Osaka Minoo-Hall with marvellous pianist Ryoko Sawaki (Schubert Arpeggione, Enescu, Taffanel Freischuetz and Franck Sonata) on Thursday, and then the following Japan concert tour with my brilliant colleagues of the WIENER VIRTUOSEN, where I will try to do my best in Bizet/Bornes Carmen Fantasy. I’m very much looking forward to my last Japan concert tour in this year 2014!

It was such a great opportunity to performe our most beautiful flute concerto – the Mozart Flute/Harp concerto – together with the outstanding and fantastic harp player Anneleen Lenaerts and CASCO Phil under the baton of Ben Hemhouts in Antwerp/Belgium this year.

Recorded and broadcasted by TV we can now rehear the elegant beauty of this wonderful and ever-lasting masterpiece: link to youtube

Please enjoy!

A almost three week tour with Vienna Philharmonic and inspiring conductor Gustavo Dudamel has reached it’s final destination. After concerts in Lucerne, Cologne, Shanghai, Osaka, Fukuoka, Koriyama, and Kawasaki we will perform the last 5 concerts now at Suntory Hall in Tokyo.
Before that, we three Principal Flutists of Vienna Phil, Dieter FLURY, Karl-Heinz SCHUETZ and me, will be on stage of Suntory Hall today, performing  a flute trio framing a lecture by famous Dr. Clemens Hellsberg. There are not many occasions to bring the three of us together on stage. The name of the piece: ” i tre virtuosi” by Leonardo di Lorenzo, and we are going having fun together!

Today I arrived back home in vienna. Behind me are 6 weeks at the worlds largest and most important music festival: the Salzburg Festival. And the Vienna Philharmonic is it’s artistic heartbeat…

I started with playing an amazing Bruckner IV under Daniel Barenboim, played the “Don Giovanni” with Eschenbach, the “Il Trovatore” with primadonna assoluta Anna Netrebko and Placido Domingo, Schuberts “Fierrabras” with Metzmacher,  the concerts with Gustavo Dudamel and finally 2 breathtaking concerts with Daniele Gatti conducting Bruckners 3rd Symphony and Lang Lang as piano soloist in Mozarts c-minor concerto.

But I was also happy to visit and enjoy the perfomances of some of my most favourite classical artists: my the-one-and-only hero Grigory Sokolov and an unbelieveable Chopin recital. Christian Gerhaher singing Schubert and Riehm and the “Jedermann” production in front of the Salzburg Dom (lucky we, weather was nice this evening!). See you again next year – Salzburg. Hopefully with more sun and less rainy days…

I’m almost done…a two week Japan concert tour with Trio Wien including Masterclasses at Shobi-University, Toyko and Kobe  Jogakuin University (special thanks to Prof. Xavier Luck) is coming to an end. Todays final concert in Nara (the photo is from Nara’s last year recital at Todaiji-temple concert hall) is a highlight of the tour, and the last day will be a Masterclass and a Solo-concert in Kyoto. I’m so happy to have met so many friends and flute enthusiasts in this wonderful part of the world.

When I’ll be back in Europe – and I really can’t wait to see my family – our huge Flute event “Alles Flöte! 2014” will start in a few days. And we will be around 50 flutist at this camp!! That’s the way a I like it! Can’t wait to start…

It’s really fantastic to be back to the USA for a three week tour with Vienna Philharmonic! “Vienna – city of dreams” – is the title of a huge festival focusing on our orchestra and viennese arts and culture here in New York.
Tomorrow we start with Beethovens 9th symphony. After 3 more concerts at Carnegie Hall (including Wozzeck and Salome concertant) we are switching to warmer California (Costa Mesa, St. Barbara, Berkeley) before comig back to the last concerts at Carnegie Hall again. The conductors are Franz Welser-Möst, Lorin Maazel, Andris Nelsons, Christoph Eschenbach and Zubin Mehta. WOW!